Ezra Jack Keats: A Brief Biography

Ezra Jack Keats was an award-winning author, and illustrator. He was best known for the beloved children’s picture book, ‘The Snowy Day’, which he’d won the 1963 Caldecott Medal. ‘The Snowy Day’ has often been considered one of the most important American books from the 20th century. Keats had written 22 books, and had illustrated more than 70 books using his collage art style. He loved to feature multicultural characters in his children’s books. Keats’ work has been translated into more than twenty languages.

Ezra Jack Keats was born on March 11, 1916. His birth name was Jacob Ezra Katz. Keats had come from a poor Polish-Jewish family who lived in Brooklyn, New York. He had been the third-born child of immigrants Benjamin Katz, and Augusta Podgainy. He had two older siblings, William and Mae. Keats’ parents had moved to New York, to escape the constant threat of anti-Semitism that was growing in Europe.

As a young child, Keats would create collage images from various materials including cloth, paper, and wood scraps, assembling them into works of art. He also loved to paint. His father greatly disliked Keats’ interest in art, and he discouraged his son. This was because Benjamin Katz worked long shifts as a waiter, and he firmly believed that artists would live in extreme poverty, and he didn’t want his son to be a starving artist.